President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is considering moving the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Bank of America Stadium to sell more skyboxes to wealthy donors, according to three Democrats involved in the fundraising.

The almost 74,000-seat home of the Carolina Panthers professional football team would also have room for the convention to sell more floor passes close to the stage. Planners for the event are struggling to meet a $36.6 million fundraising goal, according to the Democrats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter.

If you look at campaign contributions to Bondi, a certain address comes up a lot: 601 Riverside Avenue in Jacksonville. It’s the home of Lender Processing Services, its subsidiaries, and the company it recently spun off from, Fidelity National Financial.

WUSF-

Attorney General Pam Bondi is fighting back against allegations two of her foreclosure fraud investigators were forced to resign because of political pressure.

The two lawyers helped expose robo-signing and helped shut down so-called “foreclosure mills.”

They were forced to resign in May or be fired. A statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi issued Thursday says they were forced out because of poor performance, while the two women suggest political pressure did them in.

Now, in response to queries from TIME, Miller says he initiated fundraising calls to several national firms that represent big banks after he had announced his intention to investigate the foreclosure mess. “In September and October, I tried to reach out to people that I’d worked with and I thought had respect for me and potential support for me and tried to raise money from them,” Miller says. “And a number of them were from national firms.”

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) was accused by a top official at the Iowa attorney general’s office of engaging in a divide-and-conquer strategy by undermining support for the settlement of a nationwide probe into foreclosure practices, a person familiar with the matter said.

The bank tried to get attorneys general to break away from those supporting the proposed accord, Iowa Assistant Attorney General Patrick Madigan said during a recent conference call, according to the person. A second person familiar with the settlement talks said the bank sought to sow dissent among the states, eight of which have publicly criticized the proposal’s terms. Both people asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Madigan declined to comment.

“We have held face to face negotiating sessions and our negotiations continue,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat who leads the 50-state effort, said in a statement. “We believe all the banks are negotiating in good faith.”

Welcome to the new norm, we are all in this for a price it appears. Going from handcuffs to no cuffs in matter of dollars.

via TIME

Two Miller contributors have become directly involved in defending the banks in the probe. One, Meyer Koplow of Wachtell Lipton in New York, gave Miller $5,000 and is representing Bank of America in direct negotiations with Miller, the attorney general tells TIME. Another, Elizabeth McCaul of Promontory Financial Group, gave Miller $10,000 and is consulting Bank of America in the negotiations, Miller says. Bank of America was one of the first and most prominent institutions accused in the foreclosure investigation. It gave more than $80,000 to the Democratic Attorney Generals Association, which spent more than $200,000 on Miller’s campaign, Miller says.

A hilarious report has come out courtesy of the National Institute of Money in State Politics, showing that Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller – who is coordinating the investigation into the banks’ improper mortgage dealings – increased his campaign contributions from the finance sector this year by a factor of 88! He has raised $261,445 from finance, insurance and real estate contributors since he announced that he was going to be coordinating the investigation into improper foreclosure practices. That is 88 times as much as they gave him not over last year, but over the previous decade.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s campaign war chest got a dramatic boost after he announced his leadership of the 50-state attorneys general investigation into foreclosure irregularities. Out-of-state law firms and donors from the finance, insurance, and real estate sector gave $261,445-which is 88 times more than they had given him over the previous decade.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller

Last fall, The New York Times reported that the nation’s largest banks were improperly—and potentially illegally—rushing foreclosure proceedings with faulty or incomplete paperwork, which caused the banks to temporarily declare a moratorium on pending foreclosures and prompted the state attorneys general to launch an investigation into their foreclosure practices.12 The first tangible evidence of that effort—led by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller since last October—was leaked to the press in March.34

With negotiations nearing their conclusion, the final terms of the agreement will have significant implications for not only the nation’s largest banks and millions of homeowners, but the entire housing market and U.S. economy.

Given these stakes, it is not surprising that Attorney General Tom Miller—who has coordinated the national investigation and is currently at the center of the final negotiations—received large campaign donations from a variety of contributors with a vested interest in the final terms of the settlement.

Nearly half of the money Miller raised in 2010—$338,223 of $785,103—was donated after the October 13 announcement that he would be coordinating the 50-state attorneys general investigation.5

Contributions To Tom Miller

A detailed look at the campaign contributions made to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller reveals several interesting giving patterns.

First, however, these contributions have to be put into the larger context of Tom Miller’s involvement in last fall’s foreclosure moratorium, which began when Ally Financial (formerly GMAC), JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America halted their foreclosure proceedings in dozens of states between September 20 and October 1, 2010.67

On September 24, Miller announced that his office was opening a civil investigation of Ally Financial’s foreclosure processes in Iowa.8 Two weeks later, on October 7, Miller’s office issued a press release stating that Miller had spoken to representatives of JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial, and Bank of America regarding their foreclosure proceedings; as well as “assigned staff to convene a separate group of bipartisan state attorneys general and state banking regulators to coordinate states’ reviews and responses to the troubling disclosures by mortgage companies.”9

Almost a week later, on October 13, Miller’s office made the official announcement that his office was coordinating a 50-state effort to examine foreclosure practices by major financial lenders.10

Miller’s major contributions from out-of-state lawyers and firms closely tracks these developments. Between September 30 and Election Day, Miller received $170,300 from lawyers outside of Iowa, which is two-thirds of all the money he raised from them during the entire two-year election cycle. (For a more detailed, day-by-day timeline of Miller’s contributions from lawyers and lobbyists, see hiscontributions timeline).

Although it is typical for candidates to raise large sums of money in the month immediately preceding the election, Miller’s out-of-state donations in 2010 were a significant departure from his two previous campaigns, in terms of the amount of money he raised, where it came from, and when.

Miller’s 2010 campaign was unprecedented in the amount of contributions received from outside of Iowa: $497,000, or 63 percent of his 2010 total, came from out-of-state donors. This is a significant break from his previoustwo reelection campaigns, when less than one-tenth of his campaign funds came from outside of Iowa.

TABLE 1: Miller’s Out-of-State Contributions

Election

Out-of-state Contributions

Percent of Total

2010

$497,357

63%

2006

$10,508

10%

2002

$19,498

9%

Even more interesting is that it was the lawyers and donors from the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector from outside of Iowa who were largely responsible for this reversal. Out-of-state lawyers and lobbyists gave Miller $261,445 in 2010, which is 88 times more than they gave over the previous decade. Out-of-state donors from the FIRE sector gave Miller $56,150 in 2010, compared to $3,500 in 2006 and $1,000 in 2002.

The out-of-state lawyers who suddenly took a strong interest in Miller’s reelection last fall are among the most prominent litigators and partners from some of the largest and most famous corporate and class action firms in the country, which is not surprising given the numerous high-stakes court cases filed in the wake of the financial collapse of 2008 that could be impacted by the pending settlement.11

TABLE 2: Major Out-of-State Contributions from Lawyers

Firm

Total from Firm

Total from Firm’s Employees

Grand Total

Boies, Schiller & Flexner

0

$63,450

$63,450

Kirby McInerney

$25,000

0

$25,000

Simpson Thacher & Bartlet

0

$12,500

$12,500

Williams & Connolly

0

$10,500

$10,500

Kaplan, Fox & Kilsheimer

$11,000

0

$11,000

Hanly, Conroy, Bierstein, Sheridan, Fisher & Hayes

$10,000

0

$10,000

Total

…………………$46,000

………………………………………..$86,450

………..$132,450

“Total from Firm” are donations made directly by the law firm. “Total from Firm’s Employees” are the sum of personal contributions made by employees of each firm.

Below are detailed explanations of the out-of-state lawyers and firms that gave Tom Miller significant contributions.

David Boies, Donald Flexner, and Robert Silver—all partners in the New York firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner—gave Miller $60,000, or 7.6 percent of his total, making the firm the largest contributor to Miller’s campaign.12 The firm is one of the most prominent in the country, best known for representing the U.S. government in U.S. vs. Microsoft, and Vice-President Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election recount.13

The firm also has a long record of defending corporate clients and dealing with complex financial litigation. Goldman Sachs hired the firm in June of 2010 to defend itself from a hedge fund seeking $1 billion over subprime mortgage-linked securities sold to them by Goldman, as well as several other suits brought against Goldman involving other investments backed by subprime mortgage-linked securities.1415

Kevin Arquit, a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, gave Miller $12,500. Arquit, according to his official Simpson Thacher & Bartlett biography, is “regularly recognized as one of the world’s top antitrust attorneys.”20 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has recently been linked to several major players in the housing market. Most notably, the firm has worked with the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), as well as listing JP Morgan Chase, Wachovia, and Lehman Brothers as clients.2122

Eight partners from Williams & Connolly, another Washington, D.C. firm, combined to give Miller $10,500. The firm has experience defending high-profile clients—including representing President Clinton during his impeachment trial.23 The firm has been retained by Fannie Mae’s former CEO, Franklin Raines; its former CFO, J. Timothy Howard; and an ex-controller, Leanne Spencer, who all resigned in 2004 over allegations about Fannie Mae’s accounting practices.2425 One of these partners, Gregory Craig, also deserves mention, as he was one of the first lawyers retained by Goldman Sachs in response to the SEC lawsuit.26

Kaplan, Fox & Kilsheimer gave Miller $11,000. The firm is suing Countrywide Financial and Fannie Mae over their use of subprime mortgage lending.27

Milberg LLP, a prominent class action firm that is suing Citigroup over its mortgage modification practices, gave Miller $7,500.28

Meyer Koplow, a partner at the New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, gave Miller $5,000. Koplow is most famous for negotiating Philip Morris’ $206 billion class action settlement with state attorneys general in 1998.29

Frederick Kuykendall III, of both the Murphy Firm and Kuykendall & Associates, is currently involved in the class action suit against British Petroleum over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.30 Kuykendall gave Miller $5,000.

Robert Sherman coordinates with state attorneys general for Greenberg Traurig, a global, 1,800-lawyer corporate litigation firm.3132 Sherman gave $1,500 to Miller, and Greenberg Traurig’s PAC contributed an additional $2,000.

Bernard Nash of the firm Dickstein Shapiro gave $2,500. Nash is a prominent corporate litigator, and advertises his own experience dealing with state attorneys general. According to the firm’s own website— “under Mr. Nash’s leadership, the State Attorneys General Practice has become the country’s largest and premier practice devoted to resolving State Attorney General disputes.”33

Notable FIRE Contributors

Miller received contributions from two notable FIRE contributors.

Elizabeth McCaul gave Miller $10,000. McCaul is the Partner-in-Charge of Promontory Financial—a large New York City-based consulting firm—and the former Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York Banking Department, the regulatory agency that oversees the banking industry in New York state, including Wall Street firms.34

Linda Killinger, the wife of Washington Mutual’s former CEO Kerry Killinger, gave Miller $10,000. Washington Mutual did not survive the credit crisis of 2008, largely because of its subprime lending, and Mr. Killinger is being suedby the FDIC over the firm’s collapse.35

Conclusion

An agreement between 14 major mortgage lenders and the Justice Department was reached on April 13, and the state attorneys general hope to reach a separate agreement in the next several months.39 It will be worth comparing the final terms of the agreement with the contributions listed above.

These contributions are both remarkable and altogether expected—remarkable for their size, their extreme deviation from Miller’s historical fundraising patterns, and the combined legal talent and experience accrued between the contributors themselves. Expected because the negotiation process has moved between the federal and state level.

It should not be surprising that those most concerned with the outcome gave money to the man serving as the central broker between millions of underwater homeowners and national and multinational financial institutions, with billions of dollars hanging in the balance.

1. Streitfeld, David. “From a Maine House, a National Foreclosure Freeze,” The New York Times, October 14, 2010, available from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/business/15maine.html, accessed April 13, 2011.

6. Zibel, Alan and Choi, Candice, “Questions and Answers About the Foreclosure Freeze,” Associated Press, October 19, 2010, available from http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/oct/19/questions-and-answers-about-the-foreclosure-freeze/, accessed April 15, 2010.

11. For a full list of cases as of March 29, 2011, see: LaCroix, Kevin, “The List: Subprime Lawsuit Dismissals and Denials,” The D & O Diary, available from http://www.dandodiary.com/2008/06/articles/subprime-litigation/the-list-subprime-lawsuit-dismissals-and-denials/index.html, accessed March 29, 2011.

12. Six other Boies, Schiller, and Flexner lawyers gave Miller an additional $3,450 in 2010.

15. Mortgage-linked securities are financial instruments created from mortgages. The collapse in housing prices beginning in 2007 was itself a major economic problem, made much worse by the fact that many subprime mortgages were also the basis for various mortgage-linked securities sold to investors all over the world. Since their value depends on the value of the underlying mortgages, many of these mortgage-linked securities built from subprime mortgages became known as “toxic assets” in the fall of 2008. For more information, see: “The Wall Street Money Machine,” ProPublica, available from http://www.propublica.org/series/the-wall-street-money-machine, accessed April 13, 2011.

21. “Financial Times Recognizes Simpson Thacher for Innovation in its Inaugural US Report,” Simpson Thacher, December 2, 2010, available from http://www.stblaw.com/siteContent.cfm?contentID=3&itemID=75&focusID=2515, accessed April 14, 2011.

22. “Banking and Credit,” Simpson Thacher, available from http://www.stblaw.com/practice_banking.htm, accessed April 14, 2011.

24. Baxter, Brian, “Congressional Spotlight Falls on Fannie and Freddie Legal Fees,” The American Lawyer Daily, February 1, 2011, available from http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2011/02/fees.html, accessed April 15, 2011.

25. It was recently revealed that these former executives were using taxpayer money to cover the tens of millions of dollars in legal fees. Morgenson, Gretchen, “Mortgage Giants Leave Legal Bills to the Taxpayers,” The New York Times, January 24, 2011, available from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/business/24fees.html?_r=1, accessed April 13, 2011.

39. Woellert, Lorraine, “Banks to Pay Victims of Botched Foreclosures in Settlement with Regulators,” Bloomberg, April 13, 2011, available from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-13/banks-to-pay-victims-of-botched-foreclosures-in-settlement-with-regulators.html, accessed April 19, 2011.

This report was posted on April 20, 2011 by Kevin McNellis.
Let us know what you thought! Click here and give us some feedback.